I have discovered this forum is pretty handy so I figured I would give it a go on this subject. I know I know, there is a restaurant section on here but most of it isn't helpful. My husband and I have been here for just about 8 months and we have yet to really get the bug to go out (to be honest its because we are afraid of getting lost, being unable to speak with people and or running into a bad situation), lately we have been taking baby steps. We went to the mall last week (the one with the mcdonalds and the grocery store) and were pretty proud of ourselves (even though we did get a little lost coming home), so baby steps like I said. We aren't too big of drinkers and and are on a tight budget most of the time, but we have our own car so we can drive places which helps. Do any of you have suggestions for restaurants, and places to go that are friendly to the timid american traveler? Anything close to S.S. that we can find easy and perhaps speak English would be perfect for us for now. I can't really make any good excuse for living in Italy and doing absolutely nothing aside from a overpriced trip to Rome one day (because it was badly planned and we just had no clue what we were doing) and I think we are both a little tired of hearing the people back home complain about never having anything interesting to report. SO, if you have any suggestions I welcome them with open arms : D

Hi, I have several recommendations but dont really have to time to sit and type everything out :) I have an active 19 month old...Feel free to call if you'd like, I'd love to help you enjoy your time here! there are lots of great things to do and see... if you'd like to send me your number instead I could call you (I cant call a cell# only a land line) my # is 082-570-2596. Hope to chat, Kathy

A very friendly place is the country house, it's about 5 minutes away and the staff speaks english very well! It's also pretty inexpensive..supposedly they give discounts to americans (per the panarama).

Country house is really great!! Food is good, staff is friendly, prices are reasonable.

If you want to go to rome, i suggest doing it on your own and taking the train. You can park your car at CAPO base, take the Ali bus to the train station (Ali bus costs 3 euro and runs every 30 minutes!). Take the train to rome and use the Metro to get around. We have gone several times and spend very little money, much less than the actual tours, and we always have a good time. And this with small kids so it can be done! They seem to speak more english in rome, especially at the tourist sites and many hotels. We have been to some wonderful resturaunts in rome as well, and they spoke english and had wonderful food.

Also, using the Ali bus, you can travel downtown and see all the nice things naples has to offer. The archeological museam is REALLY easy to find if you take the metro.Once again, park at Capo base and take the ali bus to the train station, ali bus only makes 3 stops, the capo airport, train station, San carlo theater, so very easy to use and it makes this loop, every 30 minutes till 11:30pm. Using this system, you can see all the castles, zoo, parks, museams, churches, etc. Ive been downtown lots of times and never had a problem.

You can also take the train to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, Ercolano, and other cities around as well as take the bigger trains to the bigger cities.

Also, you should really try to drive around more. I used to get lost so many times, but it forced me to learn the area and now i pretty much know this whole area, just from being lost and having to find my way back, many times without a GPS (cause i am forgetfull!).

I think the farther north you go, the more english they seem to speak, and the easier it is to get around and do things. I am a big fan of public transportation, we have never had any issues with pickpockets or anything. So dont let it scare you. As long as you are watchfull, you should be fine!

I picked up a panorama, I have never actually seen one, like they are normally out when I pass one of the boxes and I was glad to see all of the places advertised, see the issue for me is ALL of these places just give GPS points, and those things are way expensive. I know that you can look it up on google maps, which I have for some things, but when things aren't clearly marked it makes it pointless to have the directions in your hand. I really wish we weren't directionally and map challenged.

When we went on the trip to Rome, it cost us around 300 USD, which maybe that is what it normally costs, it just seemed expensive to me being so close to it. That was pretty much all transportation costs and I think we spent 12 euro on some street food, and I got some post cards. We went to capo, dropped off the car, got on the bus, took the train then the metro from there. Which is pretty much what one of you said to do. Is there something I am missing out on maybe I know they have great transportation around here, but is there like a pass or something I can purchase? Maybe that would save a little money.

If it makes anyone happy to know, we are going to take a trip into Naples today, I took a look at the command site, and found a list of things to do, we google mapped some and saw how close they were, the plan is, to take the ali bus to the port stop and visit a few things in the area. Hopefully it will all go well, it looks pretty easy, we can walk to everything there and it looks very open and busy so it should be safe.

The issue we face also is in about 9 weeks we are going to have a baby here which has REALLY been the push for us to go out and do things. Also it has kinda been a wet blanket as well, it sort of is cutting out things like pompeii for us and longer trips too far from home. The first 5 months for me was being tied to a bathroom and feeling horrible so by time that was over I was already starting to feel like a walking bowling ball. Once the baby is born and we have the okay to go out, we hope to do things with him too.

Hi Elissa, when we first arrived here last August, I did a lot of activities thru the fleet and family support center. They have a lot of fun, free day trips in and around Naples and Terri is wonderful. There probably won't be much offered until September, but stop by their office in the Navy Lodge building and check out their brochures etc. They also have good driving directions to all the local markets and hot spots, so to speak.

One of my favorite places to go is Paestum. It's about an hour and a 1/2 drive south and easy to find, with or without a GPS. It's very inexpensive, with free parking and about 4euro entrance fee for both the ruins and museum. The ruins are very cool and contain 4 of the most well preserved temples in the world. It's flat and easy to walk around and rest when you want to. There are bathrooms and plenty of cafes around for respite from the heat. Or, we brought our lunch into the ruins and sat under a giant Olive Tree.

The Caserta Palace is another close by attraction with a low cost entrance fee (and sometimes it's free). There is an inside tour and then a beautiful walk around outside. This will be perfect in the Fall with baby in tow.

You can easily get to the Archeolical Museum in Naples by taking the bus outside the SS to Aversa, and then getting on the subway (Metro). There is a stop for the museum. Ask at the FFSC for more info on using the metro system.

If you like ceramics shopping, Vietri is a great short day trip and easy to find. Parking is a bit tricky but with a smaller vehicle you'll manage.

Our favorite Italian restaurant is called "Dom's" by the regulars, but is actually Pineta Pizza, located in Pinetamare. Dom speaks perfect English and welcomes Americans. He even opens at 5:30pm to accomodate us! Many teachers go there so it's kind of a hangout for us Americans. He has the best wood-fired pizza I've found so far, and willl make anything you ask. Pinetamare is easy to get to from the SS, about 20 minutes. Next door to Dom's is "Mr Gost's" a great gelateria and coffee place.

Ercolano (Herculaneum) is in some ways better than Pompeii as it is smaller and better preserved. You can see everything in about 3 hours and it is easy to get to and lots of parking. I used my GPS to get there, and there are plenty of signs as well. It's worth it to rent the "phone" for translation of the info.